Corporate Social Responsibility: August 2017

THE HARVEST OF PRACTICAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP GETTING BOUNTY

Entrepreneurship is private enterprise that produces enough reward that sustains the venture or economic activities. Usually the profits realized support survival, growth and expansion of the project.

The initial challenges are the visualization of business opportunities which involves huge, expensive researches and resources. Another problem is non-availability of capital. Even after acquisition of such capital the risk of losing the meager sum when the experiment fails. Americans are better off in this regard because of special fund available for trying entrepreneurs against possible failure.

For these reasons entrepreneurship is not a palatable or voluntary vocation of many school leavers, especially for those who have the opportunity of acquiring tertiary education. Having attained that height in countries with poor size of trained and skilled manpower, the propensity is to hunt for white-collar job in order to recoup the cost of high education.

A couple of years ago, not quite long because even in the ‘90s Nigeria was still referred to as a country that was inadequate in terms of qualified and skilled human capital, especially in top management, ICT, banking and finance, oil and gas as well as technology which is a measure of nations’ social progress. Just after the end of last millennium there was sudden turn reported by the media that job market was gradually becoming saturated with job-seeking graduates. It was only then that it dawned on the jobless graduates that beyond academic qualifications paraded by the applicants, other skills were required to grab few jobs available, then competition to become skilled heightened.

It is this desire to be skilled in order to grab white-collar job drove a lot of graduates and non-graduates to involuntary entrepreneurship. However, both federal and state governments responded appropriately by providing infrastructures for skills acquisition and empowerment programmes.

To further enhance the opportunities of earning income the government introduced NPower programme, conditional cash transfer, agri-preneur and other economic and engaging activities. Even as Abia government trains hundreds youths from each of the 17 LGAs. For Rivers state more and more of its youths receive scholarship annually for professional training/entrepreneurship abroad. Kenyan government went beyond all these to make it mandatory for the youth and women to undertake 30% of contracts it awards thereby encouraging entrepreneurship.

Some beneficiaries of these programmes that embraced entrepreneurship involuntarily may have reached a point of no-return with Education fo Employment programme embarked upon by the Abia state government. Recently the first batch numbering over 200 graduated by this programme had their convocation attended by prominent entrepreneurs and influencers including former Governor of Anambra state, Mr Peter Obi.

The chairman of Nigeria Security and Exchange Commission, after applauding the government’s programme urged the grandaunts to consider themselves fortunate for among them would come a ‘Bill Gate’, the world richest technologist and entrepreneur. For the grandaunts there can be no higher wish than that.

Iyke Ozemena

Attorney

IKECHUKWU O. ODOEMELAM & CO Corporate Attorneys/Consultants

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Corporate Social Responsibility

Saturday, August 12, 2017

Corporate Social Responsibility: THE HARVEST OF PRACTICAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP GETTING ...

THE HARVEST OF PRACTICAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP GETTING BOUNTY